Cold – Wind Chill

A wicked winter wind was blowing this morning and people were being warned about the risk of frost bite.

The temperature combined with the strong northeast wind resulted in a wind chill of -27.

School resumes today and parents were being asked to make sure students were dressed for the conditions whether they’re walking on taking a school bus.

Big Dig – Downtown Construction

The next Big Dig is set to begin tomorrow in downtown Kingston.

Princess Street will be closed to traffic from Bagot Street to Montreal Street starting tomorrow.

Work will begin in that area and move up to Clergy Street before it is completed by July 1st.

The project will replace sewers and other underground infrastructure.

Work on the side streets is supposed to wrap up by the end of the year.

Downtown High Rises

Kingston city council will be tackling another controversial topic in 2016…high rise developments in downtown Kingston.

A Toronto based developer is already selling units in a condo towers at 223 Princess Street.  The 18 storey development hasn’t been approved by city council yet.

Homestead Landholdings has plans for two 20 storey apartment buildings on Queen Street.

A group has already formed to oppose buildings that are higher than what the official plan calls for and several city councillors have also questioned the height of developments that should be allowed in the downtown area.

Mattress Fire – Hotel

A mattress fire at the Confederation Place Hotel early Sunday morning caused about $5,000 damage.

Kingston Fire and Rescue says nobody was injured and it quickly put out the fire at 1:45 yesterday morning.  The fire was caused by hot materials that were placed on the mattress.

Operation Red Nose

Kingston’s Operation Red Nose says it had a record season.

89 volunteers completed 114 rides on New Year’s Eve and just over $3,000 was donated.

The total number of rides this season was 637 and just over $16,900 was raised for youth and literacy programs.  Organizers say they provided 137 more rides than expected and raised almost seven thousand dollars more than they hoped to this year.

New Year’s Baby

Kingston’s New Year’s baby was born at one minute after midnight on January 1st.

Elizabeth Nicole Ma weighted seven pounds, six ounces.

The mother of the New Year’s baby is no stranger to the maternity ward at Kingston General Hospital.

Dr. Elaine Ma is a family doctor with the Maple Family Health Team and delivers babies at KGH.

History File

From Tony’s today in history file…

On this day in 1817…stagecoach service between Kingston and York (Toronto).

The fare for the ride 199 years ago was $18.